Current Champion: Andrew Simons

2017

The 2017 British Championship started in April 2016. All those who play
in tournaments between
April 2016 and March 2017 and end with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher are
on the list of qualifiers. Note: This list may contain
players who are not our members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements. The qualifiers will be able to play in Candidates' Tournament in May 2017.

2016

The 2016 British Championship started in April 2015. All those who play
in tournaments between
April 2015 and March 2016 and end with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher are
on the list of qualifiers. Note: This list may contain
players who are not our members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements. The qualifiers were able to play in Candidates' Tournament in Lechworth from 30th April to 2nd May 2016. Results

The top six available players from the Candidates', plus the reigning champion (Andrew Simons) and Desc Cann (who missed last year because of the World Amateur), took part in the Challengers League in London from 28th May to 31st May 2016. Junnan Jiang and Charles Hibbert finished with six wins each, meaning that no play-off game was required and the two of them will now go on to play in the British Championship title match games. Andrew Simons, the reigning British Champion finished on 4 wins, and given that neither Junnan or Charles have competed for the title before a new champion is ensured for 2016. Results

Game 1 Saturday 20th August Charles Hibbert against Junnan Jiang, played at private address in Oxford. Live relay on KGS (with commentary by Matthew Macfadyen (RubberDuck)) from 10:30.

Game 2 Saturday 3rd December Junnan Jiang against Charles Hibbert, played at Young Chelsea Bridge Club, London. Live relay on OGS.

Game 1: Saturday 20th August
Won by Charles Hibbert by resignation.Game One Relay
raw record including unmoderated comments. Game One Clone
with analysis by Matthew Macfadyen.

Game 2: Saturday 3rd December
Won by Junnan Jiang by resignation.Game Two Relay
raw record including unmoderated comments.

The 2015 British Championship started in April 2014. All those who play
in tournaments between
April 2014 and March 2015 and end with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher are
on the list of qualifiers. Note: This list may contain
players who are not our members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements. The qualifiers were able to play in Candidates' Tournament in Cambridge at the start of May.

The top eight available players from that played in the Challengers' League in Swindon at the end of May.

Reigning champion Andrew Kay won all his games and Andrew Simons won all bar that against
the champion, so these two are playing for the 2015 champion's title.

The players originally agreed to play a best of five match as allowed by the current rules
(default best of three), but have reduced it to best of three following scheduling problems.

Game 1 in this year's Title Match, between Andrew Kay
and Andrew Simons, was played in Cambridge on Saturday 26th September.
There was a live relay on KGS in the British room by "BGAadmin" from 10:00.

Game 2 in this year's Title Match, between Andrew Kay and Andrew Simons,
was played in Cambridge on Saturday 12th December. There was a live
relay on KGS in the British room by "BGAadmin" from 10:00
and analysis by Matthew Macfadyen.

Game 3 was played on Sunday 14th February 2016, with live
relay on KGS in the British room by "BGAadmin" from 10:00. It was won by Andrew Simons
who is therefore the new champion.

Game 1: Saturday 26th September
Won by Andrew Kay by 2.5.Game One Relay
raw record including unmoderated comments.

The 2014 and 50th British Championship started in April 2013. All those who played
in tournaments between
April 2013 and March 2014 and ended with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher were
on the list of qualifiers. Note: This list may contain
players who are not our members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements.

Those eligible could play in the Candidates' Tournament
in Coventry between 3rd and 5th May 2014; 24 players took part.

The top 8 available players, including Champion Andrew Kay, played in the Challengers' League
held over the holiday weekend 24th - 27th May, in London at ISH.
Andrew Kay ended on 7 wins and Alex Kent ended on 5 wins and will play the title match.

The players have agreed to play a best of five match as allowed by the current rules
(default best of three).

Game 1 in this year's Title Match, between Andrew Kay
and Alex Kent, was to be played in Milton Keynes on Saturday 27th September
but was postponed due to ill health. It was then rescheduled for Saturday 11th October.
There was a live relay on KGS in the British room by "BGAadmin" from 10:00.

Game 2 in this year's Title Match, between Andrew Kay
and Alex Kent, was held in Milton Keynes on Sunday 12th October.
There was a live relay on KGS in the British room by "BGAadmin".

Game 3 was held on Saturday 29th November in Oxford.
Andrew Kay defeated Alex Kent to retain the British Chamionship by three games to nil.
A copy of the game is available, with comments from Matthew Macfadyen 6d.

The 2013 British Championship started in April 2012. All those who played in tournaments between
April 2012 and March 2013 and ended with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher were
on the list of qualifiers. Note: This list may contain
players who are not BGA members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements.

Those eligible could play in the Candidates' Tournament
in Edinburgh between 4th and 6th May 2013, and 23 players did so, including the ghost and a wildcard.

The top 8 players, including Champion Andrew Kay, played in the Challengers' League
Held over the holiday weekend 24th - 27th May, in London at ISH.
Andrew Kay and Andrew Simons both ended on six wins and played the title match.
Andrew Simons's games (sgf) are available as a zipped file.

Game 1 in this year's Title Match, between Andrew Kay
and Andrew Simons, was played in Milton Keynes on Saturday 16th November.
There was a live relay on KGS from 10:00 featuring commentary by Alexandr Dinerchtein (Breakfast, 3p).

Game 2 was a week later, Saturday 23rd November, at the same location, also with a live relay,
this time by Guo Juan 5p from lunch time.

Game 1: Saturday 16th November
Won by Andrew Kay by resignation.Game One Relay raw record including unmoderated comments.

All those who played in tournaments between April 2011 and March 2012 and
ended with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher were on the list of qualifiers for the Candidates. They played
the Candidates' Tournament at ISH in London
over the May Bank Holiday weekend (Saturday 5th to Monday 7th May).

The top 8 players played in the Challengers' League
Held over the Jubilee holiday weekend 1st - 4th June, also in London at the Nippon Club.
There was an extra place available from the Candidates' as the reigning champion, Matthew Macfadyen, decided not to compete for the title this year.

The top two players played the best of three title match. In 2012 it was Andrew Kay and Nick Krempel, neither of whom had been champion before. These games were relayed on KGS,
Game 1 featured a commentary by Alexandr Dinerchtein 3p, from 10:00.

The matches were scheduled as follows:

Game 1: Saturday 8th September
Won by Andrew Kay by resignation.Game One Relay raw record including unmoderated comments.

Game 2: Saturday 22nd September
Won by Andrew Kay.Game Two Relay raw record including unmoderated comments.

Challengers' League

Matthew Macfadyen, British Champion 2010, won all seven games in the Challengers' League to earn the right to defend his title. This year he will be playing Nick Krempel (3 dan London), who won five games in the League, in a best of 3 final. Hui Wang and Alistair Wall just missed out on playing for the title by one win each.

Candidates

The qualifiers for the
British Go Championship are based on their performance in UK tournaments.
The qualifying requirement for the Candidates' Tournament
is to have an EGF rating of 1900 or higher immediately after the end of
at least one tournament, played between April in the previous year and the end of March, in which the candidate played in all rounds. You must also be a BGA member and satisfy the residency requirements in section A.2 of the official rules.

28 players from 2 kyu to 5 dan attended the Candidates' Tournament held at
Selwyn College in Cambridge. Andrew Kay (4 dan) was unbeaten winner
and Des Cann (4 dan) won five out of six. The rest of the qualifiers, on 4/6,
were Hui Wang (5 dan), Alan Thornton (1 dan), William Brooks (3 dan),
Nick Krempel (3 dan) and Alistair Wall (3 dan). The reserves, also on 4/6,
were David Ward, Richard Hunter and Paul Taylor.

Champion Matthew Macfadyen was on hand for two days in the Lyttleton Room to analyse
the players' games and suss out the likely opposition.